


unfinished

by marginaliana



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Death, F/M, Temporary Character Death, Vox Machina episode 68, written between ep 68 and ep 69
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25496968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marginaliana/pseuds/marginaliana
Summary: A year ago, maybe even a month ago, he might have been glad. But he wasn't finished.
Relationships: Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III & Vox Machina, Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III/Vex'ahlia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	unfinished

A year ago, maybe even a month ago, he might have been glad. If someone had told him Ripley was injured, trapped, her minions all killed – he might have called that absolution enough. Might have put his faith in his friends to do the rest, might have thought they'd be better off without him. Might have lain down his guns and his body with a sigh.

But…

He wasn't finished. He wasn't finished saving the world from dragons, making Whitestone whole again. Wasn't finished refashioning himself into a better man or making his friends happy. Wasn't finished learning what it was to be happy himself.

 _My heart is someone else's,_ Vex had said. At the time, Percy hadn't dared to think about who she meant. But for days he had walked through the world with his heart in his throat. Hoping. Knowing he didn't deserve her but hoping nonetheless.

 _You're a better man than you believe,_ she'd said, only a few days ago. To have her heart would have been enough to make him want to live, but to have her respect and her faith… he would cling to that forever, if he could.

A presence waited beside him. Percy looked up into the white masked face of the Raven Queen. "I would offer my service for my life," he said. "But you already have a champion."

"Yes."

"Is…" Percy swallowed. "Is there another? Who would take me?" He could not imagine being champion of a god, could not imagine giving himself up. His actions, terrible as they were, had always been his own. It would be a betrayal of everything he believed in to abandon responsibility for the consequences. But he would do it. Dedicate himself to Sarenrae, to Pelor – hells, even to Kord, who might be the most fitting of them all. 

He would do it, if it meant getting back to his friends. To Vex.

The Raven Queen reached out to touch the side of his face. Percy managed not to flinch, managed not to turn and run. He did not want to die, not now. But nor would he seek to evade her, to cheat her. He would not deny who – what – she was. Bargain, yes. Make offers, make promises. Beg, even. But he had seen enough abominations; he had been one. He would not be one again.

"Child," she said. Her fingers were cold against his skin. "Still a child in so many ways. If you had worn the armor, I would have had you for my own. You were worthy. You still are. Perhaps you can find some comfort in that." She laughed, a harsh caw. "Or perhaps not." 

She stroked his head. Percy was reminded, unwillingly, of his mother's touch. Sitting at her feet by the fire on a winter's evening, eating more pastries than he ought, with his mother's soft fingers in his hair. Tears pricked at his eyes.

"Please," he said. "Please. I have so much more to do. So many more things to make right. I've been trying – you can see that, can't you? You told me I could be better. I'm trying. Let me have a little more time."

"Your family is calling you," said the Raven Queen. For a moment Percy despaired, thinking of his parents, his brothers and sisters. For all his tears at the memory of them, he wasn't ready to see them again. But when he did hear a voice, it wasn't his mother's. Instead it was small, and soft, and strong.

"Percy. Percy, can you hear me?"

It was Pike. He could sense her – the warmth of her hands, one on his heart and one on his forehead. She had always been so warm. He turned his face towards her voice.

"Come back," said another voice – rough, angry. Vax. "Come back, you stuffy little prick. If you come back now, I'll forgive you."

"Come back." This one was Keyleth. "Come back, Percy, and I promise I'll never give you a wet willie ever again."

"Come back." 

Vex.

"Come back, darling. You know why."

He did know. And they knew _him_ , all too well. They knew exactly what meant the most. 

"Please," he said again, lifting his head to look at the Raven Queen's eyes behind the mask. "Please."

She met his gaze, and though he could not tell how, he thought she smiled. "Go," she said.

Percy did not stop to ask why, did not ask anything at all. He only turned and ran towards the voices. "Pike!" he called. "I'm coming!" Her warmth was a beacon. "Pike! Vex!"

The lungs he did not really have now were heaving, but he ran, he ran. He could nearly see his friends now, just at the edge of his vision, haloed by Pike's light. They were far enough distant to be only sketches, shapes that he filled in with his mind though in truth they were unfinished. He could draw them easily. Grog was hiding behind a mask of ignorance. Vax was scowling to hide the tears in his eyes; Keyleth was wringing her hands. Scanlan's expression was the smile that said he didn't believe in his own bullshit. Pike had pushed aside her own fear, as she so often did.

Vex had been crying and her hair was a mess, but she was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "Vex!" She couldn't hear him, of course, but he called out to her nonetheless. "Vex! I'm coming!" 

The light washed over him, wiping away the cold memory of the Raven Queen's touch. Then he was lifted into it, picked up as easily as his mother must have done when he was first born.

 _Thank you,_ he thought – to Sarenrae and the Raven Queen equally. _Thank you for letting me have another chance._

"I'm coming," he called again. "I'm coming, Vex!"

The light overtook him entirely, but Vex's name was still on his lips when he sucked in a sharp breath and woke and lived.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I cry at the end of ep 68? Yes indeed.


End file.
